Kirbys wine room

West Point French

There are basically three types of grocery stores that carry wine: Those that are serious about it, and have staff trained on grape types and vintages; those that are not serious about it all, and carry mostly jug and box wines, wine coolers, and quaffers; and those that fall somewhere in the middle with stock largely maintained by the big distributing companies.

In the Akron area, I've found three grocery stores that are so serious about wines that I visit them frequently. Although Heinens only has a couple of nearby locations, you won't find many “general” grocers more serious about their wine department. Every store has a wine manager, and I've found most of them actually taste some of the wines offered, and are relatively knowledgeable. Of course, it's a medium size chain, so ability and commitment varies with the location. The Hudson store is well-stocked, bottles are stored and displayed correctly, there is a wide range of choices and a fair number of half-bottle offerings, and the cheese department is right next door.

Heinens also has a couple of other things going for it that I like. First, they send their own buyers out in the field looking for special deals, and they sometimes come up with private labelings worth a try. They also have a special display of lower cost bottles that have been pre-tasted by staff, and sorted by type. What that means is if you are looking for a reliable full-bodied red to match with your steak, or a nice light crisp Chenin Blanc for your lemon sole, you can be sure you'll find it here.

Probably the most serious wine department in a Northeast Ohio grocery store is in the well-known West Point Market, located where Exchange Street runs into West Market Street. With all due respect to retail wine merchants, this specialty grocery store is certainly one of the first places to shop for a really special bottle. For one thing, they carry more French and German wines than many wine shops. They also are well-educated on the top rated labels and vintages, and stock as many of the smaller production bottles as they can get. Finally, they have a large staff, under the direction of Manager Mario Vitale, dedicated to the wine department, and have regular staff tastings that result in some special “staff picks” displays.

West Point also makes shopping relatively easy. The department is divided into import and California sections, and then these sections are sub-divided by varietals (California) or region (imports) making it much simpler to find the Zinfandels, or see all the Bordeaux or Burgundys at the same time. One of the negatives at Heinens, Giant Eagle, and other chains, is that some stores assume all Bordeaux are Cabernets or Merlots, and mix the French wines with the Californias. Thankfully, Giant Eagle is gradually changing this.

The third grocery store I shop is in Stow. It is actually an upscale butcher shop called Kirby's Meats, located in the south shopping plaza at Graham and Fishcreek Roads. The wine shop in this store used to operate as a separate business, but I think it has been fully incorporated into the Kirby's operation now. Since Kirby's carries fresh meat and produce as well as specialty food products and some high demand groceries, I include it in this section.

I find Kirby's to be extremely selective in what they carry. You are not going to find many low-cost sipping wines here. Most of the stock is chosen on the assumption that the first reason someone came to the store is to buy their dinner entrees, and the wines carried tend to be those highly recommended in the various publications, or wholesaled by smaller wine distributors. For that reason, you might find a bottle or two here you would not find at other stores, especially the bigger grocers. While the area given over to wine is small, it is very attractive, the wines are stored and displayed properly, and the prices are reasonable.

Once you move past these three grocery stores, I think the next best bet in the area are the wine departments at Giant Eagles. For one thing, at least two of these stores (maybe more...I haven't been in every Giant Eagle in Akron!) have special temperature controlled wine rooms where they keep and display a few of the more highly recommended bottles. Although these tend to come from more widely available sources (because a big grocery chain has to buy a lot of cases to make a profit), these will be very good wines worth consideration for any special occasion.

I also find their selection in the general section to be more extensive than in the other area grocery stores. I know both Acme and Buehler's try to offer a lot of wines, but I just don't ever seem to find as many attractive bottlings, nor do they seem as well organized. Perhaps this has more to do with the distributing companies they deal with than with any corporate philosophy about selling wine.

In Wine 101, we talked about the reasons why you might buy wine. If you are not a wine collector, if you are not serving a special gourmet meal to 10 business associates, if you are just looking for everyday drinking reds and whites, and especially if you are just looking for wine boxes, jug wines, or better than average cooking wines, I think the grocery stores are usually a better bet on price and selection. In particular, while the wine stores will have their sections of South American, South African and Australian wines, in my experience the grocery stores usually stock more.

That's pretty much the grocery store scene for wines around here. If you live in Canton, give Fisher's a try. I don't get there often, but seem to remember they make a serious effort. In the next chapter, we'll step up a notch, and take a look at some of the premium wine retailers in our town.

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Comments (7)

Wine Class

Geee...silly me! I thought my wine series posted on this blog was a wine class! That's my objective...to teach people about wine.

Jim MacQueenmore than 6 years ago

wine

Hello Jim,
well yes I agree with you....I did not want to go into great details about the cabs however technically a basic 2 or 3 blend cab with 75% cabernet is a cab! and if you add the petit verdo and the malbec you have a meritage by californian definition.Anything else to use your example of pomerol (st emilion is mostly or all merlot...if it's not a cab it's a bordeaux...and the region tells you what is in the bottle. Again i agree with you.
Yes chablis is most often a chardonnay and as you mentioned it is a different stlye of chardonnay the lime stone and slate gives it it's flintiness taste a little bit like a pouilly fume hence the name. I admire you passion about educating people about wine but perhaps you could start a wine class as it is unlikely that most people will retain the way a wine merchant talks about wine while buying wine.

Dominiquemore than 6 years ago

Sort By Region

Hi Dominique. Thanks for starting this discussion. I think it's important. To answer your question about Italian wines, I would like stores to sort them the way they sort French wines, by region. While it may be true the average wine buyer doesn't really know which types of grape predominate in various European regions, that is the purpose of wine education. I'm trying to help by writing these pieces, so maybe that is a good topic for a coming post. In my opinion, there is no such thing as a "French Cab"; they are all blends or meritages, to use the California term. So, it is important to know that Pomerols are mostly Merlot while other Bordeaux wines are mostly Cabernet. It is imporant to know that Chablis is mostly Chardonnay, but a completely different style of Chardonnay from white Burgundy. And the real point of this is that it is more difficult for a grocery store to deal with this than it is for a true wine merchant, which is why I would suggest the average consumer stick to the better wine merchants while learning all these details.

Jim MacQueenmore than 6 years ago

wine

Hello Jim,
a serious wine customer as you mentioned is not he one who needs direction but the average customers who enjoys wine is.
That customers will never go to a French wine section because as you well know they are no information about the wine in the label, also the label means absolutely nothing to them it might as well be written in Chinese it would be the same. Again as you know French cabs are blends with a least 75% cab unlike California cabs that are most likely 100% cab.
I guess one could argue that French cabs are Meritages if we take in consideration what the standard of a meritage is california.French cabs are robust and complex does the average customer want complex of fruity? A.K.A merlot? SO I would sort out french cabs with cabs, merlot with merlot and pinot noir with pinot noir. Now I have a question for you how would you sort out italian blends of cabernet,sangiovese and merlot?
with the italian wines? or with the assorted red blends?
PS: I take back my previous comment of using the sentence "if you are serious about wine" that was not appropriate.

Dominiquemore than 6 years ago

What is "serious"?

Hi Dominique. I guess you and I have very different ideas about what a "serious" wine customer is. I think anyone serious about wine either walks into the store knowing what they are looking for, or brings along enough published info to help find what he or she wants. Sorting wines by grape variety is certainly one valid approach, but not helpful with European wines which are almost always blends. Once you sort out California or other US states, it is helpful to sort again by grape, but how would you sort French wines into Cabs, Pinot Noirs, or Merlots?

Jim MacQueenmore than 6 years ago

wine

If you are serious about wine and want to answer customer needs and making their wine search easier is to organize wines by grape varietals not by region or country. Imagine if a customer is looking for a wine and does not remember the name and doesn't know where it is from.....Only Heinen's.s got it right. Griffift point posted on july 26 2010 is not realistic, customers don't know about wine, they don't want to know about wine they don't have time if they did they'd buy a book. They are not professionals about wine they just want a bottle of wine that they will enjoy. That's all customers want. Finally the biggest mistake a wine steward can do is talk about wine using the professional jargon that "only another professional can understand"

Dominiquemore than 6 years ago

West Point Market

No one knows more about wine than retailer Mario Vitale at West Point Market. He has made this department the jewel of the region...although, it was always high in my book. But Mario has set an even higher standard. Folks come from all over Northern Ohio and even from out of the state to shop here. There are bargains galore, as well as jewels you don't want to miss.